Hoses, lines, cables, and similar devices are frequently inserted into sewers in order to clean, repair, inspect, or otherwise maintain the sewer systems. The lines are typically retrieved from the sewer after use, whereupon the hoses can expose personnel and equipment to contamination from sewer contents that accompany the hoses as they leave the sewer. The hoses are typically stored and transported on sewer service vehicles, and contaminated vehicles can transfer contamination to points far removed from the sewer that is the source of the contamination.
The contamination can include human or animal excrement, medical waste, blood borne pathogens, antibiotic resistant bacteria, toxins, pathogens, and parasites, all of which are known to inhabit sanitary or storm sewers. The contamination thus presents a health threat to personnel retrieving the hoses, as well as others that come into contact with sewer cleaning and maintenance equipment.
Existing devices are adapted to span an open manhole and to help guide a hose during retrieval from a sewer through the manhole. However, the existing hose retrieval guidance devices do not reduce contamination, and moreover block access to the manhole by a sewer vacuum line when the existing device is installed in place over the manhole. Accordingly, a prior art guidance device must be removed or displaced from its operating position in order to insert a vacuum line into the sewer through the manhole. This circumstance necessitates extra handling of hoses, creating additional exposure of personnel to contamination. Removing or displacing prior art retrieval guidance devices from a manhole in order to insert a sewer vacuum line can also be time consuming because the retrieval guidance device is frequently re-installed at the same location after a vacuum operation is performed.